This article outlines how B2B audiences interact with content marketing and offers strategies to help you engage potential buyers and advance their purchase intent with your company.

How B2B Audiences Interact with Content Marketing

B2B audiences consume business content to stay informed about research and trends in their industry.

People who consume content to keep up with the latest research and trends are most likely in the “awareness” stage – the very top of the conversion funnel occupied by people looking to learn more about an industry, its services, and providers.

For B2B audiences, the best awareness stage content is informative, unbiased material that’s not blatantly promotional.

These include:

Articles that offer solutions to business problems

Hub pieces that answers “core questions” about your industry

Resource guides

Tutorials

Research data

Most people don’t make purchases every day. When they do, they’re often looking to solve a problem.

Having your content be the first that they encounter allows you the opportunity to build trust with your audience so that when purchase intent exists, they consider your brand first.

When people are researching your products or services to decide whether they’re a good fit for their business, they fit in the “consideration” stage, the middle of the conversion funnel.

When people are researching your company’s products, it is the perfect time to inform them about what the value of your services.

Quality content for the consideration stage includes:

Product webinars

Case studies

FAQ pages

Demo videos

For example, Autopilot, a marketing automation software, published a case study about how a former client integrated its technology to close more leads and automate repetitive tasks.

The article is an excellent fit for consideration-stage customers: It highlights the company’s products through demonstrating their value proposition rather than trying to “hard sell” potential customers.

Using this type of content, you can motivate potential customers to further research your company while avoiding being totally self-promotional.

Bottom-of-the Funnel B2B Readers Are Deciding Whether to Purchase From You

Bottom-of-the-funnel customers are at the bottom of the conversion stage of the conversion funnel, where they consume business content to determine whether they will purchase from you.

When targeting readers with high purchase intent, be sure to include high-quality evaluation stage and purchase stage content.

The conversion stage is the time to introduce and drive engagement for your promotional content – i.e., this is the time to make your sales pitch and elaborate on your value proposition. Still, it’s important do so in a way that’s transparent and helpful, so you maintain trust with your audience.

How to Determine B2B Customers’ Place In the Conversion Funnel Journey

By determining where your readers are at in the buyer’s journey, you can produce content that speaks directly to their interests.

Determine your target customers’ stage in their buyers’ journey by researching the language they use when they search for business content.

Customers at the top of the funnel, for example, use general terms and language.

For example, awareness-stage customers interested in a service that allows them to pre-schedule social media posts might search for terms such as:

“How to schedule social media posts”

“Social media dashboard”

Customers in the mid-to-lower part of the funnel, or those entering the consideration stage, have stronger purchase intent than those at the very top of the funnel. Thus, they are likely to search specific, long-tail terms, for example:

“Best seo software management tools 2018”

“Social media management tools comparison”

Use keyword research and management tools such as Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, or Moz to determine the terms relevant to your business that B2B audiences are searching.

With this information, you can determine which terms to target using your content and the sort of language to use to move people closer to purchasing from your company.

Optimize Your B2B Content to Purchase Intent

By appealing to the interests of your audience, you can build trust and brand awareness. These two sentiments can be the deciding factor when customers are ready to purchase and are choosing between your company and competitors.

Deliver high-quality, unbiased content to reach people who are in the awareness stage of the B2B buyer’s journey.

Offer informative, data-based, and training-style content for readers in the consideration stage.

Finally, promotional offers and landing pages are most appropriate for the he decision stage of the B2B buyer’s journey, when purchase intent is highest.

By understanding where your audience members are at in the buyer’s journey, you can tailor your content to your customers’ purchase intent and guide them through the conversion funnel and increase their intent to purchase along the way.